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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Revolutionary Feel; Analyzing "Wind of Change" by The Scorpions

The reason why my ears "caught" this song is because of the whistle. I first heard this song in a car, with my father. He had this playlist playing in the radio, and when this song started, I really enjoyed the whistle, and I told him that the song was good, and I asked him what was it about, and he told me, "It's about Russian Revolution."
I really didn't care back then. But then in high school, I found out about Mikhail Gorbachev and this word, "Perestorika" which made me suddenly interested in their revolution. this song isn't specifically about Russian revolution, but it's about the early end of the cold war.

"Wind Of Change"

(verse1)

I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night
Soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change

(verse 2)
The world is closing in
Did you ever think
That we could be so close, like brothers
The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

(Chorus)
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

(Verse 3)
Walking down the street
Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever
I follow the Moskva
Down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change

(Chorus)
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

(Verse 4)
The wind of change
Blows straight into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say

(Chorus)

So here's the analysis, it will sort of contain historical facts and stuff. And I will be clear to you that I am just analyzing here, I'm not siding with the commie or the democrats, so yeah.

Verse 1

"I follow the moskva, down to gorky park"... We can picture ourselves walking in Moscow (Moskva is actually a river in Moscow), passing The Gorky Park by. Gorky Park is a funfair park, which is named after Maxim Gorky a founder of Socialist Realism literary method and a political activist (Wikipedia says). "Listening to the wind of change"... as we're walking in the city of Moscow, we can feel something's changing. This song was released in 1990, the year when the cold war ended.

"An august summer night, soldiers passing by, listening to the wind, of change".. so we must know what happened in august summer night before or around 1990. I was thinking it might be "August Coup" that this song is talking about, but it's not. Because August Coup happened in 1991. I was thinking about The Berlin Wall destruction, but it happened on November. So I guess what happened in August Summer Night is the end of communism in Poland in 1989. Poland was the first country that left the eastern bloc back then. SO yeah you could actually feel the wind of change back then. After Poland left, many nations started to leave the eastern bloc, such as Hungary, Eastern Germany, Bulgaria, Romania.

Verse 2

"The world is closing in" means that the world's uniting. "Did you ever think, that we could be so close like brothers?" the cold war really separated people. Since the communist got weaker and weaker, the world seemed to be uniting, and they realized that they've should've been united a long time ago, as they were brothers naturally. "The future is in the air, I can feel it everywhere, blowing with the wind, of change..." in this part they started to feel that the bright future awaited along this change.

Verse 3

"walking down the streets, distant memories, are buried in the past forever"... So we imagine ourselves again, walking in the town of Moscow, feeling the memories upon the streets. But the memories are far far behind, and are gonna be buried in the past forever.

"I follow the Moskva, down to Gorky park, listening to the wind of change,"... so we keep walking again, in the Moskow, feeling the wind of change.

Chorus

"Take me, to the magic of the moment on a glory night, where the children of tomorrow share their dreams with you and me"... in here we praise, the ending of the cold war,where the generation finally has hope and dreams that they can share to the world.

Verse 4

"The wind of change, Blows straight into the face of time, Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell, For peace of mind"... the wind of change, is like a big step to a big change, it's like a stormwind that will free the people, make the peace of their minds and stuff. revolutionary stuff.
"Let your balalaika sing What my guitar wants to say"... Balalaika is a russian traditional guitar.. so that means The Scorpions persuaded the russians to say what they want to say. A revolution, a reformation. The end of cold war.

So there you go. It's an awesome song, it tells amazing story. It tells a story that people didn't even realize. We only remember about the destruction of Berlin Wall, the Augustus coup and stuff. But they don't remember about Poland signing out from the communist bloc. so yeah, it's a good song. Good story. I'm not telling you that I have my side on the Liberals. I'm just telling you, it's a good song with a good story. Bravo The Scorpions!